Earthquake Shakes Buildings In New Delhi

IndiaTimes

April 16, 2013

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A strong 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Iran, near the border with Pakistan, at 10:44 GMT on Tuesday at a depth of 73 miles ,The U.S. Geological survey said. Iranian state television earlier said at least 40 people were killed, but acknowledged there was no official confirmation. "It was the biggest earthquake in Iran in 50 years and we are expecting hundreds of dead," said an Iranian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

People in the city of Zahedan poured into the streets when the earthquake struck, Iran's Fars news agency reported.All communications in the area have been cut, the Iranian Red Crescent's Mahmoud Mozaffar told state television. Rescue teams have been dispatched to the affected area, he said. The organization said it was facing a "complicated emergency situation'' in the area with villages scattered over desolate hills and valleys.

The tremors were felt in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana and people were seen rushing out of high-rises in the national capital. The strong tremors lasted several seconds, leading to panic in many places. People rushed out of their offices and homes in the National Capital Region."I ignored the mild jolt first but after continuous jolts I realised that it is a quake," said Malini Saxena from east Delhi's Mayur Vihar locality.In some areas, people could be seen standing outside their high-rise buildings.

Similar reports came in from Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.Mild tremors were today felt in parts of Rajasthan but there is no initial report of any loss. Tremors shook Ahmedabad city and many other parts of Kutch and south Gujarat also.The tremors lasted a few seconds. Soon after tremors, people rushed out of high rise buildings, bringing back the bitter memories of devastating earthquake of 2001 in the state in which thousands of people had lost their lives.

In Pakistan, the quake brought down homes, killing at least five people and injuring others, a hospital official said. TV news channels quoted security officials as saying that three children and two women were killed when several buildings collapsed in Mashkel area of Kharan. Tremors were felt across several Pakistani cities, including Quetta, Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Chaghi, Sibi, Jaffarabad, Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Badin, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi, reported Dawn-Pakistan's leading daily.

Tremors from the 7.8 magnitude quake were also felt in the Gulf states.The area has some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including the record 828-meter (2,717 -foot) Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The earthquake also shook buildings in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, across the waters of the Gulf in the United Arab Emirates. It was also felt in the Saudi capital Riyadh and in Oman. Officials ordered temporary evacuations from some high-rises as a precaution.The grandiose Dubai Mall was completely evacuated, according to employees who said people were evacuated from towers in Downtown Dubai, home to the world's tallest building.

"The epicentre of the quake was the Pakistan-Iran border and it measured 7.8 on the Richter scale," V. Dattatreya, head, seismology, India Meteorological Department (IMD), told IANS.Iran sits on major geological faultlines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 that flattened the city of Bam, in Iran's far southeast, killing more than 25,000 people.

The quake took place at 4.14 p.m. (IST) at a depth of 33 km, an official said.